Edge roll for cushion spring assemblies



July- 23, 1957 w. F. RICI-II ARDSON 2,

' sacs ROLL FOR cusmou sgamc ASSEMBLIES Filed Sept. 8, 195.3

INVENTOR. Will/3m f'fifcflammn BY Patented July 23, 1957 r 2,800,170 EDGE ROLL FOR CUSHION SPRING ASSEMBLIES William F. Richardson, Carthage, Mo., assignor to Flex- O-Lators, Inc., Carthage, Mo., a corporation of Missouri Application September 8, 1953, Serial No. 378,862

1 Claim. (Cl. 155-184) This invention relates to new and useful improvements in edge rolls for furniture upholstery, and is an improvement over the edge roll construction shown in my copending application, Serial No. 272,531, filed February 20, 1952, now abandoned.

My prior edge roll constituted a sheath formed of pliable sheet material such as X-crepe paper and including therein padding material formed of a plurality of layers of thick, soft paper extending longitudinally of thesheath and transversely rolled or folded to provide the desired cross-sectional shape, and having a pair of longitudinally extending spaced apart cords secured in said sheath. Said cords provided means whereby the edge roll could be attached to the marginal edges of an upholstery spring assembly by split-ring clips commonly known as hog rings, each hog ring piercing the sheathinside of a cord and encircling said cord and a Wire of the spring assembly. When so positioned, the edge roll protected the upholstery padding layers applied thereover against undue wear from frictional contact with the spring assembly, and increased the comfort of the finished cushion by further padding the edges thereof. This edge roll possessed several advantages. It was extremely economical, and while possessing sufficient flexibility for ordinary use, it was also sufficiently rigid to be self-supporting, holding its shape through long periods of use and also being sufficiently strong to serve in lieu of the usual marginal wire of the spring assembly if desired. However, due to this very strength and relative rigidity, it had the disadvantage that it could not conveniently be formed to arcuate shape to fit, for example, the forward edge of It had a sofa seat cushion when said cushion is curved. a tendency to break or buckle whenever suflicient force was applied thereto to form it. The primary purpose of the present invention, therefore, is the provision of an edge roll of the character described which may be formed easily and conveniently into arcuate shape.

Another object is the provision of means whereby the edge roll may be smoothly curved in the plane of the upper or seating surface of the cushion, but without any substantial loss of strength or rigidity in a direction at right angles to said seating surface. The strength and self-supporting features of the edge roll, as it is stressed in normal usage by persons sitting thereon, are therefore left substantially unimpaired.

Other objects are extreme simplicity and economy of structure, and ease and convenience of application in various degrees of curvature.

With these objects in view, as well as other objects which will appear in the course of the specification, reference will be had to the drawing, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a fragmentary top plan view of a cushion spring assembly, showing an edge roll embodying the present invention attached thereto.

Fig. 2 is an enlarged inner edge elevational view of a section of the edge roll.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged fragmentary sectional view taken on line III- H1 of Fig. 1.

coextensive.

Like reference numerals apply to similar parts throughout the several views, and the numeral 2 applies to a cushion spring assembly comprising a plurality of helical springs 4 arranged 'in rows with their axes parallel and The upper end loops 6 of said springs are disposed in substantially coplanar relationship, and the end loops of adjacent springs in each row overlap slightly. The springs are joined by a plurality of helical binder coils 8, each of said coils passing between corresponding springs in each of the rows of springs and coiling about the overlapping portions of the top loops thereof. This method of joining the springs is illustrative only, and is not restrictive in any way. The lower end loops of the springs 4 may be attached to a rigid base (not shown), or

in the case of a double-faced or reversible cushion, may

be joined by binder coils similar to coils 8. It will be noted that at least one of the rows of springs is curved, whereby an edge of the assembly formed thereby is curved. This occurs normally as a design feature at the forward edges of furniture seats such as in sofas and chairs.

The edge roll 10 constituting the present invention is formed basically similar to that shown in my above identified prior application, comprising a sheath 12 formed of any suitable pliable material, but preferably of a tough, heavy paper. A heavy grade of paper known as X-crepe paper has been found particularly satisfactory since,

while possessing adequate strength, the fact that it has gree of flexibility to the finished edge roll. The sheath,

as shown, comprises a strip of paper having its longitudinal edge portions overlapped and sewed by a longitudinal line of stitching 14. This line of stitching is spaced inwardly from the edge of the sheath, whereby to form a smaller tubular sheath or bead 16 extending longitudinally of sheath 12. Similarly, a second sheath or bead 18 is formed in parallel and spaced apart relation to bead 16 by forming a longitudinal bight in the paper forming sheath 12, and securing said bight with stitching 20. A flexible cord 22 made of twisted paper or other suitable material extends through. each of beads 16 and 18.

The sheath 12 is substantially tear-drop in crosssectional shape, being formed by the padding 24 which fills it. It will be noted that bead 16 at the thin edge of the tear-drop shape, and that bead 18 is spaced inwardly from the thick, rounded edge of the tear-drop shape, as shown in Fig. 3. The padding 24 is preferably comprised of a plurality of longitudinally extending sheets of soft pulp paper, folded or rolled longitudinally as shown and sewed to sheath 12 as by stitching 25. Also, the paper may be deformed or indented to form what is commonly known as wafile paper.

The edge roll is positioned about the marginal edges of the spring assembly as shown, bead 18 being disposed substantially tangentially to the top spring loops 6, and

bead 16 being disposed inwardly from bead 18 and lying on top of loops 6. The inner edge portions of the edge roll may be notched as at 26 to pass about corners of the spring assembly.

However, considerable difficulty has been experienced in forming this type of edge roll to a curve, as shown at the top portion of Fig. 1. The edge roll so far described has several advantages. It is soft enough to have good cushioning properties and flexible enough for normal usage. At the same time its structure, particularly the arrangement of padding sheets 24, provides sufficient tensile and bending strength that the edge roll will hold its shape over long periods of usage and can be selfsupporting, that is, can 'be used in lieu of the usual steel marginal wires commonly in spring assemblies.

However, due to this very bending strength, or rigidity,

of the edge roll, it exhibits a tendency to buckle or break, when any attempt is made to form in curves as shown, rather than to curve smoothly as shown.

Consequently, the principal object of this-invention is the provision of an edge roll having the desired-stiffness in a direction at right angles to the surface of the cushion, this being the direction of stress during normal ,use, while at the same time having a greater degree of flexibility in the plane of the surface of the cushion, whereby it can be formed in curves easily and conveniently. This is accomplished by crimping the thin edge portion of the edge roll to form an accordion pleat therein as shown. The alternately opposite creases 28 which form the accordion pleat extend transversely of the roll, and are oftapered depth, being of maximu-m-depthat the thin edge of the roll and tapering-to zero depth before reaching the point of maximum thickness of the roll, as best shown in Fig. 3. Thus the stiffness of the edge roll, in a plane parallel to the surface of the cushion, is broken to a large degree, and the roll may be formed easily in a curve as shown in Fig. 1. However, the stiffness of the roll in a direction at right angles to the surface of the cushion, or vertically as viewed in Fig. 3, is left substantial-ly unimpaired. Since this is the direction of stress during normal usage of the cushion, the usefulness of the edge roll is therefore left substantially unimpaired by the crimping.

The edge roll is secured to the spring assembly by securing the beads 16 and 18 to the top loops'6 of springs 4 by means of split ring fasteners 30. These fasteners, commonly known as hog rings, each have sharpened ends, and are furnished with the ends spread apart. They may be closed by a special tool to pierce the paper of sheath 12 inwardly from the stitching securing the associated bead, and encircle both the bead and the wire of the spring loop 6. As shown, bead 16 is secured at each of its points of intersection with spring loops 6, and bead 18 is secured at each of its points of tangency with said spring loops.

Preferably only those portions of the edge roll which will be curved are crimped. In securing a crimped portion of the edge roll, it is desirable to start at one end and progress toward the other, forming the edge roll to the desired curvature as the hog rings are inserted. It is obvious that the edge roll may be fitted to curves having a wide variation of degree of curvature.

It will be noted that the hog rings 36, once inserted, secure the edge roll against any further flexing in a horizontal plane. Bead 18 is disposed substantially in the 4 vertical plane of the center of curvature of the edge roll, whereby it need not change its length when the edge roll is curved. Also, the configuration of the edge roll provides that the center of curvature is substantially closer to the thick or outer edge than to the thinner inner edge, thereby avoiding excessive stretching of the outermost edge of the thick portion during curvature of the roll.

After the edge roll has been attachedas shown and described, the upholstery padding is applied thereover,

extending over the top of thevspring assembly and edge roll, and downwardly along the edges of the assembly. It then performs the usual edge roll functions of padding the edges of the cushion for greater comfort, and protecting the upholstery against wearing contact with the spring assembly at the edges thereof.

While i have shown and described a specific embodiment of my invention, it is obvious that many minor changes of structure and operation could be madewithout departing from the spirit of the invention-as defined by the scope of the appended claim.

What I claim as new and'desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

An edge roll for spring assemblies, said edge roll comprising a sheath formed of a foldable sheet material and having a general tear drop cross-sectional contour and padding material filling said sheath, said sheath being adapted to be secured over a spring assembly with its major cross-sectional axis generally parallel to the surface of said spring assembly, said padding being of suiticient stiffness to impart substantial strength and toughness to said edge roll in a direction normal to the surface of the spring assembly and the thinner edge portion of said edge roll having accordion pleats formed therein extending'transversely to said edge roll, whereby to reduce the stiffness of said edge roll in'a plane parallel to the surface of the spring assembly.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,557,483 Siskin Oct. 13, 1925 1,745,986 Edwards Feb. 4, 1930 1,918,412 Marsack July 18, 1933 2,025,329 Bronstein Dec. 24, 1935 2,096,008 Schemrnel Oct. 19, 1937 2,615,504 Cook et a1 Oct. 28, 1952 2,651,059 Platt Sept. 8, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 380,200 Great Britain Sept. 15, 1932 

